AAP Minister Gurmeet Singh khudia
Credit: Wikimedia Commons/By LudhianaUser - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Chandigarh: In 2022, AAP's Gurmeet Singh Khuddian won his first election against five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, emerging as his party's "giant slayer". Two years later, he is ready to take on the late Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch's daughter-in-law and three-time Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Khuddian, who is the agriculture minister in the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government, has been fielded by the AAP from Bathinda, which is considered a citadel of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
"I am thankful to the party for putting its faith in me by fielding from the Bathinda seat," Khuddian told PTI.
He said he is getting a very good response from people on the back of the two-year performance of the AAP government in Punjab.
"People trust us and they know that we work honestly towards their welfare. I am taking the government's work of two years to people to seek their votes," said the 61-year-old first-time MLA, exuding confidence that he would win the Bathinda seat.
Khuddian first came into the limelight in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls when he defeated 11-time MLA Parkash Singh Badal on his home turf Lambi seat by a margin of 11,396 votes.
When talking about the work done by his government, Khuddian mentions free electricity (300 units per household) being given to the people and Aam Aadmi Clinics.
The Aam Aadmi Clinics provide free medical treatment, tests and medicines to people and are benefiting people a lot. The AAP has set up more than 800 Aam Aadmi Clinics, he said.
Apart from this, the state government organised "Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan" for the promotion of sports in the state, he said.
The Bathinda parliamentary constituency is considered the SAD's bastion. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a former Union minister and wife of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, has held the seat since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The SAD has again fielded her from the seat.
BJP candidate and former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu, Congress" Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Lakha Sidhana are also in the fray.
Bathinda will go to polls along with 12 other Lok Sabha seats in Punjab on June 1.